Zutto
by Suisyo
Summary: Oneshot. Kagome has to deal w the results of Iuyasha's decision...will she find the courage to live through it?


A/N: Hey, I just want to let everyone know, who is awaiting the 3rd chapter for Torikaeru, that its on its way..Im just having technical difficulties w/ my brain. I was missing a few scenes and the ones I did write were coming out aweful, so I am redoing them (this is why its taking so long)...but I haven't forgotten about it. I just had this story pop up in my head one evening and just wanted to type it up and get it out there...maybe this can hold everyone over while I sort out the issues w/ my other story...

This is a one-shot, but i will have a "sequel" to it..or a chap 2 (whatever u wanna call it) a continuation...so thats kinda why there is a cliffy...sry about that...hope you all like it. Thank you all for baring w/ my poor time management and my defunct brain...;;

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha..if I did I'd be rich and wouldn't need to write these stories, cuz I'd just have people animate them for me ...

**Zutto**

She stared at the reflection of colorful fall leaves, dancing in the wind.

Standing on a Japanese foot-bridge, she leaned on the smooth, wooden railing, looking solemnley out at the cool, rippling pond.

Koi slowly and gracefully danced at the water's surface. Colorful scales complimenting the autumn scenery.

She let the air escape from her lungs in a soft sigh. Despite the simplistic beauty of the garden around her, she couldn't get the recent events, that had occured, out of her troubled mind.

Her heart ached and she felt exasperated. After all the time and energy she had devoted, after all the love and friendship she gave, in the end...it hadn't been enough.

He left her behind, without much more than a glance. He never said goodbye... he didn't speak a word.

She may never have even known what became of him, had she not mistakenly stumbled across the scene she witnessed that day.

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Hearing her soft gasp, he turned, just enough for his eyes to meet her's. His face was somber as he stared deep into her brown orbs.

But strangely, through the momentary silence she saw the sorrow in his amber eyes. Could he really be sad to be leaving her. If so, why doesn't he stay? Wasn't she good enough? The answer was ovbious, but one she couldn't bare admit.

He didn't love her. Not the way he loved the woman he was about to go to hell for.

It was the longest, most heart wrenching moment she had ever experienced, and it was also the shortest. In seconds he had stared into her soul and then, hesitantly, he turned. After a short pause, he walked over to the waiting priestess. He stopped in front of her and they both reached out to hold each other in a loose embrace.

The hanyou turned his gaze back to the young girl, who now had tears welling in her eyes.

She watched as a bright light rose from the ground, raising higher, and higher, to encircle them. An unseen force pulled them into the earth, their hair swirled and clothes swayed. The dog-eared boy turned back to the undead priestess, tilting his head towards her neck, he closed his eyes. He accepted his fate.

The young girl didn't wait around to see the end of the only one she ever loved. She turned and quickly fled, running through the forest, and through the village, eyes blurred by tears. She even ran past her confused friends, straight to the Bone Eater's Well, never glancing back, never to return.

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Now here she stood, alone and hurt.

She looked down at the sparkling, pink orb in her palm. It had already been over a month since they had found the last shard. With Naraku defeated and the Shikon jewel complete, life was finally getting back to normal.

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They were all looking forward to a nice break. The taijya and the houshi took the kitsune and neko with them and returned to the exteminators village to rebuild it and to start their future together. And after a small vacation on their own the hanyou and herself would rejoin her friends at the village to help.

She really was looking foward to enjoying some time alone with the hanyou without the stress and fear of Naraku and the jewel shards.

Everything was going well until a week later. The hanyou began disapearing for extended periods of time, and returning unexpectedly only to yell and curse at any who questioned him. She knew something was bothering him, but he evaded her. It continued for almost a week until one final quarrel ended in her angrily leaving for home.

She'd just go home for a few days to cool off and hopefully make him feel guilty about what he had said, and done.

When he hadn't showed up to get her after three days, she decided to go back to find out why.

She never anticipated what she saw. And for the first time her presence didn't effect his desicion...he had finally made up his mind.

He hadn't chosen her.

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A tear slipped off her cheek and fell into the pool below, creating a series of ripples that scared a few koi away. _He hadn't chosed her_. A couple more tears followed and soon she was sobbing into her hands. _It isn't fair. Why did it have to happen this way? Why does it have to hurt so much? _

She sank to the ground and cried even harder, her body shaking from the exertion.

She stayed like this for several moments until her sobs turned into quiet hiccups.

Leaning forward she rested her head on a pole that made up the bridge's railing. Looking once more at the pond she finally took in its beauty and turned her eyes up towards the red and orange leaves that hung over the ponds edge.

Wiping away the tears from her eyes she glanced around the vast garden. Birds sang happily, squirrels collected food for the upcoming winter, and leaves fell with each cold, gust of wind.

While she sat there in her misery, life was continuing on around her. Time wouldn't stop if she allowed her sorrow to take over her life. She knew she couldn't end up like that. She had fought so hard for her life. Her friends had fought so hard for her life, through countless battles. She couldn't let this get her down. She had to be strong.

Memories she had been forcing out of her mind came flooding back. The good and the bad. She frowned as she remembered all the close calls they had in battle, and all their fights. She smiled as she remembered all the antics of the hanyou and her friends, as well as all the wonderful moments they shared.

Looking back on her life, it wasn't bad. After all she had to be grateful for the experiences she had, and the friends she made.

It was in this moment of reflection that she had an epiphany.

The emotions of her first love's departure would never go away, but just the same, neither would any of the moments they shared or the memories she held. He would always be with her, in her mind, heart and soul. Especially her soul.

It was in this moment of revelation, that the jewel grew bright, and its pink radience engulfed her. She was unable to see anything but a blinding light, but the warmth of the jewel filled her with a comfort she hadn't known in years.

She closed her eyes and smiled. Then a voice, soft, sweet and feminine, spoke to her, seemingly out of the spirit world. It assured her that everything would be alright. That all hope wasn't lost, and her pain would soon be gone.

The light faded away, and the warmth disipated. When she could once again feel the cool autumn breeze on her face, she opened her eyes. Looking down at her palm, she realized that the only thing in it was the chain the Shikon jewel had hung from.

It was gone. Years of searching, and in one moment it had vanished.

It was then that Kagome knew what had happened. The jewel had granted its protector one wish...a wish she didn't have to utter or even think about. It came from the depths of her heart, from where the jewel now resides. It was once again one with her body and soul.

Just as her beloved Inuyasha...

Forever...


End file.
